Mikhail Chigorin (12 November 1850–25 January 1908) was born in Gatchina, near Saint Petersburg, and was the founder of the Russian chess school as well as the first grandmaster from Russia. He served as a major source of inspiration and influence...
At any given moment in time one particular piece of software tends to dominate. In the 1980s it was clearly a combination of Chessbase and Fritz. In the 1990s, other engines emerged to relegate Fritz to a lower tier. The rise of Ribka took chess w...
The transitivity law does not hold for chess. That is, if player A usually beats player B, and player B usually beats player C, it does not imply that player A usually beats player C. In fact, sometimes it’s quite the opposite. While playing agai...
There are many gambits that have almost disappeared from play because theoreticians have found a way to equalize but not refute them. The Goering gambit is one such gambit. Authorities consider an early advance of the deep on to be a complete rem...
Stefan asked: 6.Bd3 in the Sicilian Najdorf is a line that’s very rarely seen at the top level (at least, as far as I’m concerned). When I check my database, I see this line has been played by Magnus Carlsen, Judith Polgar, and a few other big na...
Levon Aronian was born October 6, 1982 in Yerevan, Armenia. In 1994 he won the World Youth Championship U-12. In 2002 he won the Armenian Championship and the World Junior Championship. Aronian won the World Rapid Championship in 2009. He won the ...
It is useful to have a few extra opening plans to add a little variety to your play. If you are a standard e4 player, there are many interesting gambits that lead to a sharp game. In this article I will show you an alternative to the Max Lange, wh...
The two positions that I posted for you to solve are new to me as well. The first one David sent me and I believe it is as a position from a Chess.com TV lesson, while the second position my coach gave me to solve. These two positions are not that...
This week we shall have a look at the King's Indian Defence Classical System. This is our 3rd article in the King's Indian and our previous ones were on the Bayonet attack. We wanted the readers to know more on the Classical ideas in the KID where...
The art of attack in chess is really much simpler than you think. It comes down to one simple rule: Remove the defenders! Everything else is just a variation on that theme. You see it all the time, but here is a wonderful example as Grandmaster Sh...
Last time I tried to convince you,- and myself again, too-, that it is useful to build up an personal "opening repertoire". How can I build up an opening repertoire ? (1) So you have read it and now you say: "Well, I am convinced and mo...
The Yugoslav attack in Sicilian dragon is one of the sharpest lines in chess. The starting position (tabiya) is this one: Normally white goes here for a sharp kingside attack,- often in the h-file -, and black counters at the queenside. Oft...
“He was not popular with his colleagues; he was surly, arrogant, conceited, and almost paranoid. People were out to poison him. Noise bothered him. Everything bothered him. Not naturally, he was in constant controversy with other players. They obj...
Mr. Woodrow asked: Playing as Black, I have responded to 1.d4 in a number of ways. I have tried variations of the Nimzo-Indian, the Gruenfeld, the King’s Indian, the Queen’s Indian, the Bogo-Indian, the Queen’s Gambit Declined, and possibly other...
The more experienced we are in chess, the more subtle our understanding of the game is, and the easier it is for us to tell which move is good without even calculating the variations. It’s a mixture of feelings, experience, knowledge of the key pr...
The Sicilian Dragon remains a deadly weapon in the tournament arena. Black is still turning out miniatures, and exploring new vistas. Today I present three short interesting wins for Black, in some of the interesting Dragon landscapes. ...
In this game, White plays the initial phase of the opening well enough, but then he starts to drift with some questionable and unnecessary moves, which allow Black to work up a strong queenside initiative. At that point, White: recognizes the pro...
Reader Comments To Articles – Love Letters to a Chess Writer! Ah, time to revisit all my previous articles and mention a few of the many comments that appear under them. I’m sure they will all be positive … perhaps offering me riches and praise a...
How should you play when you face an opponent who is hundreds of points higher rated than you are and has a wealth of experience? Should you play your regular opening or choose something tricky that might catch the opponent in a trap? Should you g...
Say you are just a club player and going to play a GM in the next round of a Swiss tournament, or maybe just in a simul. What would be your strategy? Yes, you can try to play defensive chess, trade pieces and hope to make a draw. This is a very...
It is difficult to find an opening which is misunderstood by more chess players than the Caro-Kann Defence! Former World Champion Anatoly Karpov once remarked, "I always had a very sad impression of this opening due to its desperate passivity." ...
Sacrifices of the major pieces used to be fairly common among top chess players, but nowadays are rarely seen when top grandmasters square off. However, in the game that follows, Nigel Short sacrifices his queen...after a mere seven moves have ...
I have stated that chess pieces are connected. As a result, I have been asked to explain how pieces are connected. The way a player deploys the pieces should take into consideration their coordination. The first part of this is simply development....
In this game, the players castle on opposite sides, which usually signals attacks on both sides. Both players pursue their chances on each side, but Black misses something that costs him the exchange. But he stays calm and uses the time White sp...
